Raiders’ Mark Davis Slammed for Handling of Antonio Pierce & Tom Telesco - suong

It appears that there are brighter days ahead for the Las Vegas Raiders but the last decade has been a mess under the ownership of Mark Davis. Nobody can accuse him of not caring about the team but he’s consistently made the wrong moves.

Last offseason, he had a chance to take a big swing at head coach and general manager. Instead, he decided to make Antonio Pierce the head coach, who had only two years of experience coaching in the NFL and hired general manager Tom Telesco, who had just been fired by the Los Angeles Chargers.

While it looks like the Raiders could be in the mix to land a top head coach and general manager, that’s not thanks to Davis, according to Sports Illustrated’s Gilbert Manzano. He took the owner to task for how he’s handled the last 12 months and named him as one of the biggest losers of the NFL Wild-Card Round.

“Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis has whiffed a handful of times on head coaches and general managers the past 14 years,” Manzano wrote in a Jan. 14 column. “But he didn’t even give coach Antonio Pierce and Tom Telesco a fair shake in firing both after one year.

“Davis forced the partnership between Pierce and Telesco because he couldn’t decide on one vision and was rewarded with a dreadful four-win season. He was concerned about Pierce’s lack of coaching experience and paired him with Telesco, a seasoned executive who spent 11 seasons as the Chargers’ GM. But Pierce was more compatible with Champ Kelly, who wasn’t promoted after being the interim GM in 2023.”

The only reason the Raiders can possibly attract top coaching talent this offseason is thanks to new minority owner Tom Brady. The legendary quarterback has won more than anybody and it appears that Davis is going to let him have a huge say in football operations going forward.

“It’s understandable that Davis is now allowing Tom Brady, the team’s minority owner, to have more say after years of getting it wrong, but it’s a bad look for the organization to fire a GM after one season and not give a coach time to develop knowing well that game management wasn’t a strength,” Manzano wrote. “Davis quickly pivoted, and probably for the best, but now Brady has to deliver pitches just to convince top coaching candidates like Johnson to interview with the team and assure them Davis will no longer be in the way, which isn’t even a guarantee.”

It remains to be seen if Davis will truly let Brady run the show. He’s been honest about the fact that his football knowledge is limited. Giving the keys to Brady is a wise decision but this is all very new.

If things get off to a rocky start with the new head coach, how involved will Davis be? He’s known to have postgame meetings with head coaches after every game. Will that continue to be the case going forward? It’s likely that we won’t have an answer on any of this until the 2025 season starts getting played.